Saving You, Saved Me
by forensicduck
Summary: When Owen finds Alex, she is balancing on a thin line that separates the good from the bad, and he's the only one who can remind her of the difference… but how capable is he of doing that, especially when he has his own wars to overcome?


**Title: Saving You, Saved Me  
>Chapter title: All In The Eyes<br>Author's Note: I would just like to thank Jenna, for our many conversations about Olex. They inspired me to write this fic. Basically, we wrote it together. I am actually just a person who translated our conversations into fic. Also, I apologize for any grammatical errors in this fic. I am writing to improve my English so really, feel free to point out mistakes. I shall write them down and learn from them.  
>Summary: When Owen finds Alex, she is balancing on a thin line that separates the good from the bad, and he's the only one who can remind her of the difference… but how capable is he of doing that, especially when he has his own wars to overcome?<strong>

The door slightly creaked as he pushed it open a little further. It was already ajar, but that didn't alarm Owen Elliott. He often 'broke' into Nikita's lair without calling out her name first. What did distress him, however, was the state of the lair. He didn't even get to the living room before noticing the burnt walls and smell of ashes. _Did Nikita let a bomb explode in this place?_

As a former Guardian, Owen was exceptionally skilled in picking up suspicious sounds. He removed his gun from its holster and slowly moved in the direction he heard a faint noise.

He raised his gun, but before he could order the stranger to reveal himself, he noticed the person turned around and pointed a gun in his direction as well. "Who the hell are you?"

He was shocked to find out that the stranger was a woman. Her eyes glinted with suspicion as her grip around her weapon tightened, her finger loosely covering the trigger.

"I could ask you the same thing." Owen spoke calmly.

"You first."

Owen sighed mentally. "Fine. I'm Owen Elliott." He felt his hand descend.

He noticed a slight chance of her facial expression. "Owen Elliot?" she repeated him, a little taken aback.

The slightly older man nodded his head. "The one and only." He managed to offer her a tiny smirk. "Who are you?"

She felt strangely comforted by his deep blue eyes and slightly boyish expression. "I'm…" she began slowly, watching him as he gave her another small nod. "Alex." She finally lowered her gun.

Now it was his turn to be taken aback. "Alex?"

"The one and only."

A silence stretched between them as both parties took the opportunity to digest the information. Owen glanced over at Alex, and realized that she was nothing like he imagined. He heard about her from Nikita. She was a recruit turned Division agent, and Nikita's ally within Division. That was actually the only thing he's heard about her. Nothing about where she came from or why Nikita chose to work with her. Just that her name was Alex and that she was Nikita's mole.

Frankly, he didn't imagine her like this. In mere minutes, he understood that she was a beautiful young lady with an extraordinary life – though that was a bit of an understatement – who knew exactly what she was fighting for but felt hopeless, like a little girl, in the process. A girl who missed most of her childhood because she was forced to grow up way too fast, and now she spent her days longing for those simple days that were her past. He got all of that by looking at her. _It's all in the eyes._

"Well," Owen smiled, trying to lighten up the situation. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alex."

Alex felt another rush of ease flowing through her veins. It caused her to smile back at him. She inadvertently took a few steps in his direction and lessened the space between them. "What are you here for?" Owen slowly asked her, his eyes never leaving hers. She got closer and closer and he felt his heart beating in his chest. "…if I may ask?" She finally stopped and he fought back a sigh of relief.

When she doesn't answer, Owen continues. "I was looking for Nikita."

At the mention of Nikita, Alex was suddenly reminded of a friendship that was once so strong, and it saddened her that Nikita was now the one person she had to lead right into the arms of the enemy. "Nikita…"

"What happened to her?" Owen asked, concerned. Burning ashes tickled his nose and stung in his eyes, the place that was once Nikita's so called 'home' was now subdued by a lingering scent of desolation. "What happened to this place?" His eyes travelled across the room and back to Alex within just a minute.

Alex thought it was too soon to completely trust Owen, but she did feel like she owed him a bit of an explanation. "Division found her."

That was enough for Owen, though he did have a feeling in his gut that she wasn't telling him everything. He didn't expect her to. After all, it has only been a few minutes since they met.

For the first time in a long time, Owen didn't know what to do. They stood in front of each other in silence, both trying to figure out what to do or say in their heads, and both ending up staring at the walls around them.

"Why are you here?" Owen broke the silence after a while.

She jerked his head in his direction, trying to feign annoyance but showing helplessness instead. "I…" she spoke, "It has been a while since I was here. Since I separated ways from Nikita. I go here… and get strange feeling of peace, I guess." She tried to shrug casually.

Owen crinkled his forehead in concern. "I understand."

She looked up at him, as if to ask 'you do?' but she didn't voice her thought. Clearing her throat, she regained her composure and took a step back. "I think you should go now. Nikita is not here."

Owen nodded in acquiescence. "Okay."

Alex twitched nervously. She remembered Nikita telling her that Owen was a former Division Guardian, and that he's gone rogue after Division killed his wife. She doesn't remember a name. All she knew was that Oversight was keeping tabs on her every move since she and Nikita parted ways. She didn't want to get Owen in trouble.

He slowly turned around to walk away, but then suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Wait a second." Owen turned back to her and furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm here to find Nikita, so why should _I_ leave?"

Upon that, Alex squinted her eyes, trying to figure out if he was kidding around or not. He didn't even flinch. She considered explaining to him why he should leave, but waved off that thought when her eyes noticed the boyish, slightly teasing glint in his eyes.

An unstoppable giggle escaped her mouth.

Owen laughed a little awkwardly and frowned. "What?"

She waited for a few seconds. "Thank you."

"For what?" Owen frowned even more. This young lady was nothing but confusion. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed or pleased by that.

Alex's smile faded a little, though its purpose still lingered in her eyes. "It's been a while since I had a good laugh."

This time, he laughed, shaking his head a little. "I don't know what you consider 'a good laugh', but what you did right there… that was nothing more than a giggle." He informed her in amusement.

"Well, sometimes it doesn't take more than a giggle to be reminded of something you've missed."

That last remark was meant to keep the moment light, though it had the exact opposite reaction. Owen didn't know what to say to that, so he just voiced whatever thought popped into his mind. "I'm… glad to have made you _giggle_, then."

A somewhat bleak smile.

"I should… go." Alex softly spoke, suddenly feeling very aware of herself in his presence. So she tried to crack another joke, though the tone of her voice revealed her sudden unease. "You can keep this monstrousness of a squatting house for yourself since Nikita moved out."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable moving into a place that looks like it's gonna collapse any second."

She nodded at his response, unable to form a smile this time. Her nod was both an acknowledgement of his comment, and a way of saying goodbye.

He nodded back.

Not a smile from his side either. As comforting as the smile of this – pretty much – strange person was, the look in his eyes was good enough for her. And that feeling in her gut basically screamed at her that there was a lot more to this guy than she knew at the time.

What she didn't know, is that he was thinking the exact same thing.


End file.
